Case Number 20051: Small Claims Court

THE SACRED TRIANGLE: BOWIE, IGGY AND LOU (1971-1973)

The Charge

Bowie, Iggy, and Lou.

The Case

In 1971, David Bowie was considered by many to be a one-hit wonder, his
otherworldly single "Space Oddity" his only notable contribution.
Desperate for inspiration, Bowie looked to shed his folksy image and become a
superstar. Meanwhile, Lou Reed was stinging from a disastrous solo record, his
glory days in the Velvet Underground being quickly forgotten by a fickle musical
audience. Iggy Pop, on the other hand, was drug-addled and band-less, The
Stooges having broken up the year before due in part to Iggy's constant drug
use. What do all three men have in common? They met at Max's Kansas City in New
York City and began an artistic meeting of the minds that would change all three
of their fortunes forever.

The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 chronicles the
lead up and collaborations between these three visionary men of music, focusing
primarily on the years 1971 to 1973. A low-key documentary assembled from the
usual mishmash of archival footage, still photographs, narration, and interviews
from friends and colleagues, this is a solid documentary for music lovers --
lots of details and observations from people who witnessed the events
first-hand, like David Bowie's ex-wife Angela Bowie, Andy Warhol's Factory
assistant Billy Name, MainMan Management vice president Lee Black Childers, New
York scenester Jayne (nee Wayne) Country, and many others.

It is an interesting story of fortune, especially if you are new to the
subject. Bowie, whose own career was stagnating, became attracted like a moth to
a flame to Lou Reed and Andy Warhol and the whole grime of the New York City art
scene in the late Sixties and early Seventies, a creative bastion of
free-thinkers. For Lou Reed, his own musical fortunes were dwindling. His first
solo album, in a word, sucked. Becoming quick friends, the two collaborated and
inspired each other from the get-go; Bowie attracted to Reed's Velvet
Underground mystique, Reed becoming intrigued by Bowie's increasing glam rock
styling. Iggy Pop saunters in, a frenetic Midwestern tsunami, starts going out
with Nico (much to ex-boyfriend Lou Reed's consternation), and blows the
eardrums off anyone in range. It was less a musical collaboration than an
artistic one; the three didn't sit down with guitars and jam, so much as inspire
each other to great heights.

While all three artists benefited from their collaborations and crossovers,
The Sacred Triangle is quick to point out, almost accusatorily, that
Bowie reaped the greatest amount of success from the trio. The most unique
aspect of this film is this decidedly caustic, often unflattering look at Bowie
and his predatory talent for musical pilfering, going so far as to suggest that
Reed and Iggy were artistically mugged. It is an interesting take on the
subject, to say the least. It might be fairer to observe that Bowie simply did
what Bowie did for the next forty years in his musical career: he watched very
carefully what was going on all around him in music, culture, fashion, you name
it, and he appropriated the best of it into his act. Lou Reed and The Velvet
Underground possessed artistic depth and resonance, but lacked the charisma to
make it big. Iggy Pop was a whirlwind of blood and sweat and testosterone, but
his drug dependencies and raw personality lacked poetic refinement. Bowie
appropriated elements from both to created Ziggy Stardust, a manufactured rock
persona, and it lead him to superstardom.

Opinions are divided in The Sacred Triangle as to whether Bowie was
plagiarizing or polarizing. Either way, in doing so, his currency and influence
became significant enough that he was able to lend his production and
songwriting talents back to Iggy Pop (Raw Power) and Lou Reed
("Transformer"), which led them likewise to superstardom, so in the
end, it all worked out quite well for the trio. Well, okay, it took a few more
years for Iggy Pop. Raw Power is a seminal album of aggression and mad
guitar, a proto-punk masterpiece, but it sold embarrassingly poorly in its day,
and Bowie remixed it under duress by all accounts. The true collaborations
between Iggy and Bowie, The Idiot and Lust for Life, were still
quite a few years away, after Bowie had been to Berlin.

Presented in a simple full-frame and stereo track, The Sacred
Triangle has the makings of a "made for British TV" documentary.
Quality depends on the source material being displayed, but overall detail is
soft, edges are blurred, and color palates are washed out. The stereo transfer
does the job well enough, but lacks the low-end oomph -- a major sin,
considering how much amazing music gets played throughout this feature. We get
choice tracks (and some very amusing early singles) from Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and
David Bowie alike. Don't buy this DVD for the technical presentation.

Extras are likewise slim. We get a 7-minute featurette, "The Nico
Connection" focuses on the influence of another individual, the actress and
model Nico and her connection to the iconic three, as well as biographies on the
interviewees throughout the film.

If you are unfamiliar with this particular and unique period in musical
history, The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 is worth
the look. Despite a lackadaisical technical presentation, the film is assembled
nicely and moves along at a solid pace. Still, there won't be many breakthrough
moments for hardcore fans here.